This promising cancer treatment may one day change the way doctors treat bone cancer.

Related

Immunotherapy is a cutting-edge form of cancer treatment that uses the body's own natural defenses to hunt down and kill cancer cells. Surgery followed by chemotherapy remains the primary bone cancer treatment; but, many cancer centers offer clinical trials that are testing immunotherapy. One study found that a type of immunotherapy significantly improved survival in people with osteosarcoma.

Immunotherapy: What Is It?
There is much scientific interest in immunotherapy as a way to treat bone cancer and other forms of cancer. Also known as biotherapy or biological response modifiers, immunotherapy stimulates the white blood cells, the cells that usually help ward off infection. Once activated by immunotherapy, the hope is that white blood cells will increase the body's immune response to cancer while leaving healthy tissue alone.

Immunotherapy: Types
Researchers have developed five general types of immunotherapies. They can be used by themselves or combined with each other or with other cancer treatments like chemotherapy. They include:

Interferons: White blood cells release these proteins to prompt the immune system to attack germs. Researchers are now using interferon to target and destroy cancer cells.

Interleukins: These proteins enhance the activity of immune cells and may be particularly useful for treating cancers that have spread throughout the body.

Monoclonal antibodies: A monoclonal antibody is a synthetic cell designed to bind to a specific antigen, or foreign substances such as cancerous cells. Once the antibody binds to the predetermined substance, it encourages the immune system to destroy it.

Vaccines: Cancer vaccines help the body identify cancer cells as abnormal and target them for destruction by the immune system. Other vaccines are also used to prevent cancer by targeting particular viruses or bacteria that may serve as precursors to cancer.

Colony stimulating factors: These proteins increase the production of bone marrow cells, which in turn, enhances immune system function and may allow people to undergo additional chemotherapy.

Immunotherapy: MTP Success
A recent study found that the addition of the synthetic protein liposome-encapsulated muramyl tripeptide (MTP) to conventional chemotherapy for the treatment of osteosarcoma significantly improved survival.

MTP activates monocytes and macrophages (special white blood cells) and turns them against cancer cells. Doctors believe that chemotherapy and bone cancer surgery eliminate most of the bone cancer cells, while MTP revs up the immune system to kill remaining cancer cells that may be undetectable.

MTP currently remains in clinical trials and is only being used as a secondary form of treatment. More research is needed to help determine the best way to use this type of immunotherapy to fight cancer.

Immunotherapy: Side Effects
Side effects of immunotherapy may include:

fatigue

rash or swelling where the immunotherapy was injected

flu-like symptoms such as fever, nausea, and diarrhea

Immunotherapy and Bone Cancer
Interestingly, one of the earliest attempts to develop immunotherapy arose as a result of bone cancer treatment. In the 1890s, Dr. William B. Coley, a bone surgeon at Memorial Hospital in New York City, found that bone cancer patients who developed bacterial infections after surgery seemed to have better survival rates. He reasoned that co-existing bacterial infection helped encourage the immune system to destroy cancer cells as it was fighting the infection.

Dr. Coley pioneered the use of injecting bacteria, now known as "Coley toxins," into patients with cancer. While his work was controversial, research suggests that Coley toxins may be useful in treating cancer when combined with other cancer therapies, like surgery or chemotherapy.

As research continues, immunotherapy may prove to be an innovative bone cancer treatment that truly saves lives.

This site complies with the HONcode standard for trustworthy health information: verify here.

Advertising Notice

This Site and third parties who place advertisements on this Site may collect and use information about
your visits to this Site and other websites in order to provide advertisements about goods and services of
interest to you. If you would like to obtain more information about these advertising practices and to make
choices about online behavioral advertising, please click here.